Cultura Crítica

INTERNATIONAL  HOLOCAUST  REMEMBRANCE DAY

The Courage to Care: Rescue during the Holocaust

The Nazi regime and its collaborators murdered about six million Jewish men, women and children during the Second World War, in a systematic attempt to destroy European Jewry.

Every year around 27 January, UNESCO   pays tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. This date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet troops in 1945.

The history of the genocide perpetrated during the Second World War does not belong to the past only. It is a ‘living history’ that concerns us all, regardless of our background, culture, or religion. Other genocides have occurred after the Holocaust, on several continents. How can we draw better lessons from the past?

                 

                                                                                                                                                                  Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General

In 2013, the theme chosen by the United Nations for this International Day is “The Courage to Care: Rescue during the Holocaust”. It highlights the exceptional actions of individuals or groups who contributed to save Jews from the grasp of Nazi Germany. In contrast to an indifferent majority, they refused to stand by while innocents were being murdered and they took action despite tremendous danger. These stories of rescue are rare but provide strong evidence that action is always possible in the face of injustice and gross violations of human rights.

Holocaust Education

Teaching and learning about the Holocaust calls attention to issues that are central in UNESCO’s mission to build peace and to promote of human rights. UNESCO works with its Member States in an effort to develop educational programmes to teach young generations the lessons of the Holocaust in order to help prevent future acts of genocide, in line with the United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 and UNESCO General Conference resolution 61 on “Holocaust remembrance”.

Activities                                                                                                                           UNESCO is presenting exhibitions illustrating the specific rescue dimension of Holocaust history.

Two exhibits will be dedicated respectively to the particular cases of Bulgaria and of Denmark, in which important parts of the society reacted to protect the Jewish population from deportations. Another exhibition, especially prepared for this occasion by the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation, presents video testimonies of survivors who were rescued during the Holocaust.

A special ceremony on 28 January will feature prominent personalities, such as French Minister of Education Vincent Peillon and lawyer, historian and Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfled.

President of Bulgaria Rossen Plevneliev is guest of honour of this special day and will speak during the ceremony.

The Organization and the Office of the United Nations Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide are also organizing a high-level panel discussion on Holocaust Education and the Prevention of Genocide, with the support of the Kingdom of Belgium. The conference will take place at UNESCO headquarters on 28 January. Holocaust and genocide scholars will discuss the challenges ahead to better develop education about the Holocaust and mainstream the prevention of genocide. United Nations Under-Secretary General Mr Adama Dieng will participate in this public event and highlight the importance of raising awareness among young people and policy-makers about the danger that genocide still represents today.

In addition, UNESCO will hold a videoconference in partnership with the Shoah Memorial on 21 January with journalists and other media professionals gathered in the field offices of Bujumbura, Dakar, Kinshasa, Libreville and Yaoundé. The discussion will be introduced by Mr Yves Ternon, genocide scholar, and will include a testimony of Ms Ginette Kolinka, Holocaust survivor.